<p>I had initially thought that all college tours and info sessions were casual dress (ie, street clothes)...but then I heard someone on another CC forum mention that everyone at his Princeton info session wore a suit. How are the Stanford tours and info sessions? I'll be visiting on 8/13...</p>
<p>I went to a Stanford campus tour about a week ago, and almost everyone was dressed really casually, jeans and all. Even the tour guides themselves were wearing jean shorts and their own (nonstanford) t-shirts.</p>
<p>Stanford is a large campus and the tours involve a lot of walking. The weather is picture perfect (warm-to-hot, 68-81 degrees today), so dress accordingly. </p>
<p>Yuppie casual or casual business wear, clean, groomed, comfortable walking shoes (no flip flops or high heels), etc. Suits or formal business attire would be overkill, unless you have an interview with the Provost or something.</p>
<p>Stanford students dress very comfortably as they walk or bicycle around campus but Stanford staff and office workers are usually in business attire.</p>
<p>So.....what is the recommendation?</p>
<p>I wore jeans and a t-shirt to both the Princeton and Stanford tours/sessions.</p>
<p>The norms for casual vs. formal and socially acceptable levels of casual are very different between California and the east coast. If you wore a suit to the Stanford tour -- or to just about anywhere in the bay area -- you'd look very odd. </p>
<p>Shorts and a t-shirt with sandals won't get you looked at funny here, at Stanford, or at many dining establishments. It was actually something of a shock for me when I moved here from the South; people attend <em>funerals</em> in t-shirts and sandals, here. In the places where a Southern college applicant would wear a dress/skirt or the classic khakis/oxford combo, people here will wear shorts, mini skirts, t-shirts, tank tops, etc.</p>
<p>I guess we should call it "California casual." I remember going to a business conference back east many years ago, and had to be told how to dress, i.e. wear a suit and tie. I was told not to dress like I am from California!</p>
<p>When I first read the headline for this thread, I was like: "WHOA, who dresses formally for a college tour?"</p>
<p>I guess that's just what you get for living in California, particularly near Stanford all your life, lol. But yeah, you won't see many people dressed formally around campus. I've taken one of their tours and was also there for EPGY (so I lived on-campus for 3 weeks) this summer. </p>
<p>And yeah, expect LOADS of bikes, lol.</p>
<p>I think a polo shirt and non-denim pants would be as dressy as necessary. For the info sessions on the East Coast that's all I wore.</p>
<p>The Stanford tour is very casual. You'll meet in a room with an admin officer, along with about 50 or so other people, for a short time and then take a student lead tour around campus and during the summer, it is HOT there. Dress accordingly, you needn't "dress to impress". Stanford is already so impressed with itself, they aren't going to notice how you're dressed, lol. This is a very anonymous thing.</p>
<p>The only interaction we had with the admin. rep was that she went around the room asking everyone where they are from.</p>
<p>Very casual.....not a high stress atmosphere at all.</p>
<p>If you dress up people will laugh at you. If you had an interview khakis and a polo might be appropriate, but since Stanford doesn't offer interviews shorts and a t-shirt is perfectly fine. If you are only going on a campus tour/info session, casual clothing is appropriate everywhere (even Princeton). You don't need to dress up at all unless there's an interview involved, and even then suits seem a bit much to me.</p>
<p>I just ran into a bunch of people on a tour at Stanford the other day... <em>nobody</em> was dressed up. Plus, it was <em>hot</em> -- I was wearing light capris, a polo shirt and flip-flops and wished I was wearing less.</p>